RM of St. Peter unites fi ve communities for centenaryRM of St. Peter Celebrates 100 Years!RM of St. Peter Celebrates 100 Years!

Capital I Industries Inc.Capital I Industries Inc.Phone: 306.873.5437Phone: 306.873.5437Fax : 306.873.4158Fax : 306.873.4158

PO Box 2980 HWY 35 SouthPO Box 2980 HWY 35 SouthTisdale, Sask. S0E 1T0Tisdale, Sask. S0E 1T0

on100 YearsCongratulations

Annaheim SK • Ph: (306) 598-2171www.doepker.com

RM of St. Peters

1-888-435-26261-888-435-2626

Congratulations

RM of St. Peters

100 Years100 Years

PO Box 128 St. Gregor SK S0K 3X0

306-366-2116

ManagementManagement and Staff of theand Staff of the

St. Gregor CreditSt. Gregor Credit Union sincerelyUnion sincerely

wish thewish the RM of St. Peter No. 369RM of St. Peter No. 369

congratulationscongratulations on the occasionon the occasion

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PO Box 65 Annaheim SK S0K 0G0

306-598-2044

by Elodie AdamsJournal Staff Writer

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Rural Municipality of St. Peter. While many other RMs in Saskatchewan also celebrate a centenary this year, the area that became the RM of St. Peter has an unusual history.

Before the land in the Rural Municipal-ity of St. Peter was offi cially designated and given the nomenclature according to the province’s Rural Municipality Act (1911), it was under the jurisdiction of St. Peter’s Colony.

St. Peter’s Colony was a vast, 50-town-ship area extending roughly from Cud-worth to Watson, established under the spiritual leadership of two Benedictines, one from the priory of Cluny in Illinois, and the other from St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota.

The village of Muenster became the central location for the colony. It was Father Bruno Doerfler, for whom the town of Bruno is named, who originally scouted the area in 1902 and deemed it ideal for the establishment of a large German-Catholic settlement. On May 16, 1903, a contingent of monks led by Prior Alfred Mayer left Rosthern (then the nearest railway point) arriving on May 21. By fall, quarters for the monks were erected, and a small church made of logs. Other buildings were soon put up, and the priory became the spiritual centre of the region.

“I would say that the Abbey is probably responsible for settling most of the RM of St. Peter,” commented the RM’s Reeve, Danny Breker. “The rights were given to the colony, and the Abbey had these par-cels of land and would distribute it.”

Five distinct communities grew out of the colony when the RM was formed: Lake Lenore, Annaheim, Muenster, St. Gregor and Englefeld.

“That’s what makes the RM of St. Peter so unique,” Breker said. “Most RMs only have one community.”

The three communities situated along Hwy. 5 all have ties that can be traced to the Colony, either by name or by a landmark. Further north, the communi-ties of Lake Lenore and Annaheim grew because of their agricultural importance in the area.

Here is a snapshot of how each of those communities evolved.

Beginning with Muenster, its name — like the English word “minster”— is derived from the Latin word “monaste-rium.”

With the arrival of the railway, the dis-trict around Muenster began to be settled rapidly. In 1907, work began on a new church — St. Peter’s Cathedral — today a heritage property.

The Benedictine monks’ influence in the community continued over the years. They founded parishes and parish schools throughout the district, estab-lished St. Peter’s College in 1921, and set up a printing press, publishing Cattholic newspapers (the German-language St. Peter’s Bote and the English paper, The Prairie Messenger). The monks were also engaged in mixed farming.

Ten kilometers east of Muenster, the village of St. Gregor was established as construction of the Canadian Northern Railway line (CNR) was proceeding through the St. Gregor district in 1904.

The arrival of the railway sparked an immediate increase in the regional popu-lation, and in 1906 the fi rst general store opened at what was developing as the St. Gregor townsite. In 1907 Fr. Doerfl er founded the parish of St. Gregory, named for Pope Gregory I, and the community in

turn was named after the parish.In 1923, St. Gregory Church was built

and today its 26-metre high tower remains the focal point of the village.

While the railway construction was

advancing in the district, and trains began to run between Kamsack to Humboldt, a third community 10 kilometres east of St. Gregor began to emerge. A general store and a lumberyard were the beginnings of the village of Englefeld, named after Abbot Peter Engel of St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota.

The fi rst grain elevator was erected in 1910, and a railway station was opera-tional in 1912. The village grew slowly but steadily after its incorporation in 1916. Today there are two important industries based in Englefeld: Schulte Industries, a manufacturer of farm equipment and in-dustrial machinery exported worldwide, and Koenders, who specialize in molded plastic products and windmills.

Approximately 20 kilometres north St. Gregor lies the village of Annaheim.

Its name in German means “Ann’s home,” named after the parish of St. Ann’s

established there by the Benedictines in 1903.

The economy of the Annaheim area is based primarily on agriculture; however, a strong industrial sector has developed,

the most significant company being Doepker Industries Ltd., a manufacturer of highway semi-trailers with a market across Canada. Annaheim also serves as the administration centre of the RM of St. Peter.

Lastly, 28 kilometres to the north of Muenster the community of Lake Lenore began to develop. The fi rst store opened in 1905, followed by the post offi ce estab-lished in 1906 by George Gerwing. It was given the name Lenora Lake (now Lenore) after the nearby body of water, named in the 1890s by a government surveyor after his daughter, Lenora.

With the arrival of the railway, the community developed rapidly: grain elevators, stockyards, and a variety of businesses sprang up, creating a signifi -cant trading centre for the surrounding agricultural district. By the mid-1950s, the town of Lake Lenore was experiencing a

heyday, with fi ve grain elevators shipping almost one million bushels of grain out of the district annually. In spite of this, the village began to experience a decline in population when the railway discontin-ued service to the village in 1965. Freight service ended in 1979 when the station was closed.

Today the RM of St. Peter continues to be a productive agricultural area and one that benefits economically from the in-dustrial presence of four manufacturers.

Plus, certain agricultural machines manufactured lo-cally are products that the RM needs to maintain its intensive road system. Hal Carnago of Schulte Indus-tries explains how the two entities have developed a rapport that benefi ts both.

“The RM of St. Pete’s does a lot of testing for Schulte,” said Carnago. “If we have a proto-type mower or a proto-type machine that we think suits the RMs’ need, they usually get the mower to test. So we’ve been working with the RM of St. Pete’s for many years on our proto-type equipment.”

And the RM’s road system is an important factor that links the fi ve communities to-gether, according to Breker.

“Those communities really need a road system to con-nect them,” said Breker. “So we have quite an intensive

road system to maintain. We have more miles of road than most RMs because of these fi ve communities.”

The RM of St. Peter is inviting all pres-ent and former residents to participate in its celebration on August 11 in Annaheim, beginning at 3 p.m.

With fi les from “Our Towns” by David McLennan, 2008.

Lake Lenore Co-op Agro306-368-2255

ThThaank you for all yournk you for all your years of support.years of support.

Sincerely,Sincerely,Schulte Industries LTD.Schulte Industries LTD.

CongratulationsCongratulationsto the RM of St. Peters

on your 100th Anniversary

CONGRATULATIONSRMOFST.PETERON YOUR100thANNIVERSARY

CONGRATULATIONSRMOFST.PETERON YOUR100thANNIVERSARY

Friday, August 10, 2012 ECT 98 ECT Friday, August 10, 2012